To mark the Christmas season, I thought I would feature this beautiful icon, painted by my teacher, Aidan Hart (aidanharticons.com), which reflects the nativity accounts from the gospels of Matthew and Luke, which will be familiar to many. These are the main features of this image:
At the top, we see the guiding star. The star's design incorporates a threefold ray structure indicating trinitarian action, with its darker central portion representing the mystery of God.
The Blessed Virgin Mary's recumbent position at a diagonal is intended to visually connect the upper and lower parts of the image, establishing an axis between the celestial and terrestrial realms. This emphasizes her unique role in the Incarnation, in which God took his humanity from her, which could only have happened with her cooperation.
The Christ child is wrapped in swaddling clothes, which provide a visual connection to burial garments¹, and so establish a visual prophecy of his Passion and death.
The ox and ass come from a prophetic text from the book of Isaiah²: 'The ox knows its owner, and the ass its master's crib; but Israel does not know, my people does not understand'³ and the prophecy of Habakkuk in the Septuagint, that, 'In the midst of two living creatures you shall be known'⁴. It is another indication of the humility of the Creator that Almighty God should become man in the abode of lowly animals, which become the primary witnesses of his birth.
The manger, the animal feeding vessel, symbolises an altar on which the Lamb of God is sacrificed and a tomb, prefiguring his death again.
The human figures are arranged in two distinct groupings: shepherds and Magi, representing the Jewish people and Gentile nations⁵, respectively, and between them, their presence indicates that this event is good news to all people. Indeed, this is good news for all creatures, not just man. We have considered the lowly animals already, but we also see angels, the spiritual beings who herald the good news.
The angelic presence establishes a counterpoint to the Fall narrative. In contrast to humanity's encounter with fallen angels⁶, these divine messengers appear to Mary⁷, Joseph⁸, and the shepherds⁹, receiving obedient responses in each instance.
The composition includes the apocryphal detail of midwives attending to the infant Christ, derived from the Proto-Evangelium of James (Chs. 19-20) and Pseudo-gospel of Matthew (Ch 13), serving to emphasise again Christ's human nature.
Finally, a significant figurative element is the inclusion of Joseph, who is set apart, listening to the prophet Isaiah. This is intended to communicate that although he initially doubted the Virgin Birth, his doubt quickly became acceptance. Isaiah is reassuring Joseph that what he is witnessing is the fulfilment of his messianic prophecy.
The staff that Isaiah holds is painted as a budding branch evoking the stem of Jesse: 'There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord'¹⁰.
Notes:
¹Luke 2:7, 12; ²Isaiah 1:3; ³Isaiah 1:3 (RSVCE); ⁴Habakkuk 3:2 (LXX); ⁵Matthew 2:1-12; ⁶Genesis 3; ⁷Luke 1:26-38; ⁸Matthew 1:20-24; ⁹Luke 2:8-14; 10. Isaiah 11:1-2 (RSVCE); ¹¹Isaiah 7:14
